Historically, motor oil was just a mixture of base oil and additives used to lubricate engine parts, reduce friction, clean, cool, and protect the engine.

However, modern synthetic motor oils are a complex mixture of base oils and additive components designed to perform a variety of tasks:

• Separating and lubricating moving parts
• Reducing engine wear
• Helping to prevent deposits from forming on internal engine components
• Removing and suspending dirt and contaminants in the oil until these contaminants can be removed at the next oil change
• Cooling engine parts
• Enhancing engine fuel efficiency
• Providing protection across a wide range of temperatures
• Operating hydraulics in variable valve timing
• Helping protect the emissions system

In other words, modern synthetic motor oil does a lot more than just lubricate. It’s responsible for engine wear protection and engine performance enhancement as well as complete protection of all moving parts.

Engine oil is comprised of two basic components–base oils and additives. The base oils constitute 70-90 percent of the total and are created from natural gas or crude oil, while additives round out the remaining 10-30 percent and can be variety of things.

These additives include among other things:        

• Dispersants
• Detergents
• Anti-wear additives
• Friction modifiers
• Antioxidants
• Anti-foam additives,
• Corrosion inhibitors
• Viscosity index improvers 
• Pour point depressants
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• Why is a Motor Oil’s Ability To Clean Important?

Every time your engine runs, by-products from combustion contaminate your engine oil. If the contaminants build up in the oil, they can settle and create sludge and deposits in the engine. Using low quality motor oil, neglecting to change your oil, and maintenance issues can also lead to sludge forming in your engine.

If your engine components and oil passages are dirty, your vehicle performance, efficiency, and quality can diminish. Deposits also trap heat inside your engine like an insulating blanket. This is why it is important to use a motor oil like Pennzoil Platinum, Castrol EDGE, RED LINE, Mobil 1 & many more Brand Name Full Synthetic motor oils.